


To Make a Mokingjay

by AgapantoBlu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Blood, Follows the general plot-line of the second book, Gen, Gore, Hurt/Comfort, I mean, I'm still one of the few who write HungerGames!AU where every good bean somehow lives, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, Lance as Finnick Odair, SO, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-30 07:58:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15747552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgapantoBlu/pseuds/AgapantoBlu
Summary: You need to crush its nest.It’s the talk of the night, or the week, or the edition, he doesn’t really care.District 12 sent two male tributes, two brothers. How impressive! What devotion!It’s really not.The Special Memory Edition wanted past champions to fight among themselves, and District 12 simply hasn’t had a female champion since, probably, ever. And about the brothers thing, it was a known secret since long before the draft. Three male Champions meant that one of them would have been picked, and in no universe the other wouldn’t have volunteered.Or, the Paladins are all winners of the Hunger Games who get called back for the Special Edition.





	To Make a Mokingjay

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who's back from USA?! I'm going to spend the next weeks eating nothing but vegetables and fruit, I can feel my insides dying, wow.
> 
> Here's some angst for you as I finish watching Season 7.
> 
> P.S. I just got travel for 22 hours, I slept nothing, I didn't proof-read this. Have mercy.

It’s the talk of the night, or the week, or the edition, he doesn’t really care. District 12 sent two male tributes, two brothers. _How impressive! What devotion!_ It’s really not.

The Special Memory Edition wanted past champions to fight among themselves, and District 12 simply hasn’t had a female champion since, probably, ever. And about the brothers thing, it was a known secret since long before the draft. Three male Champions meant that one of them would have been picked, and in no universe the other wouldn’t have volunteered.

For most of his life, Keith’s firm anchor had been Shiro. Calm, smart, fast in reacting, Shiro had been the supporting pillar of their family of two, orphans in the streets of the outskirts of the District. He’d built himself a protector and he and Keith had watched each other’s back every moment, be it in the tunnels while mining coal or taking turns to sleep in the run-down barrack they made their home.

Only three times, Shiro’s demeanor had crumpled: the first time, when Keith’s name had been called for the Hunger Games, just a second before he offered himself as a tribute in his place; the second time, five years later, when Keith’s name had been called _again_ , and he’d had to let him go because a champion can’t participate in the games twice; and third, when the rules of the Special Edition had been announced.

Shiro had been haunted since he came back from the games the first time, but the desperation of those three moments is something Keith has still nightmares about, much more often than about his own time in the Arena.

Now, the training room is a sight Keith never wanted to face again, and it makes him sick to realize Shiro knows his way around this like the back of his hand. Still, they walk silently side by side, and carefully assess the other tributes.

Mitchell Iverson, the third Champion, had kept silent during the whole train ride to the Capital, an eye swollen shut from the day before when Keith had attacked him after finding out he’d agreed with Shiro for offering himself in Keith’s place, if he got the chance.

Shiro had to pry him away, then he’d yelled and fell silent with tired eyes. “ _They keep doing this, Keith,_ “ he’d whispered. “ _I can’t keep fighting them on your skin._ “

Keith had slammed the door behind himself when he left.

Today, Iverson has been curt and clear: they can’t do as their past years. These are not people who’d been picked randomly, these are all killers soaked in blood to their throats, and the two of them are among the most recent winners, a power-duo of young and healthy men that most participants are probably hoping to get rid of in the first moments of the carnage, when the fight is too messy for even the best to keep an eye on everything.

“ _For the love of fuck, Shirogane,_ “ had told Iverson, stubbornly ignoring the glare Keith had been sending his way. “ _Keep your brother’s mouth shut and. Make. Some. Allies._ “

It’s just dumb to believe in the alliances of the Arena, but Shiro had nodded and so, now, Keith keeps quiet.

His skin itches for him to go to the mats and spar, take his frustration out with punches and kicks, but close combat is his best suit, he can’t show it off immediately. And anyway, he has many blanks to fill in the meanwhile. Last time, he almost died of starvation because he couldn’t remember which plants were edible and which weren’t.

Shiro must remember too because a discreet push to his back sends Keith stumbling toward the survival training stand. Keith shares a look, but Shiro has his eyes on the long-sword fighting simulator.

There’s two people there already, and Keith shivers recognizing them.

He hurries up to his own destination even thought a girl is already there. She’s tiny and has glasses that cover her whole face. Her brown hair rest frazzled on her head as if a bird had made a nest in there. She sits legs crossed in front of a bunch of twigs.

Katie “Pidge” Holt is the female champion from District 3 and she won the Hunger Games the year before Keith. She’d kept herself hidden and stolen stuff until she could build up some kind of taser cable which she used to make a net and take out the last five contestants in a single hit.

His heartbeat is half fear and half something else. She’d been thirteen, back then. He watches her try to set up a fire and thinks, damn, she was so young. The same age he would have been if Shiro hadn’t volunteered in his place.

She looks up when Keith approaches, and there’s a shard of suspiciousness there that is just as quick to disappear as it was to show up. Keith doesn’t know what to do about it.

She huffs and holds up her sticks. “I’ll teach you how to recognize poisonous berries if you teach me how to set shit on fire.”

Keith is not surprised she knows what he can and can’t do, but he is a bit surprised that she’d willingly help him out. Is the exchange really worth it?

He doesn’t want to think that Shiro knows how to pick food, but sent him to find out for himself too. He doesn’t want to think that they can’t both make it.

“Sure.“

He sits down, picks the twigs from her hands and starts rearranging them. It takes him just a few moments to get a fire going and then he gives more materials to her, so that she can practice. While she struggles, he looks up again and, sure enough, Shiro is still on the other side of the room, with the tributes from District 4.

Allura Altea and Lance McClain are not actually related, but the physical resemblance is still striking enough to earn them the title of The Twins. They share a warm kind of beauty, all dark skin and teal eyes and lean figure with hidden muscles, but also a cold strategic mind and colder blood. Now, they smile at Shiro like friends of long time, share jokes and casual touches like nothing. Both their outfits are far more skimpy than the others’ and their skin and hair seem soft even from afar. They look like they are simply gym buddies trading routines, untouched by the air of death that permeates the room.

It’s striking, because Keith has seen them fighting.

Allura won the year before Shiro and still holds the record for the shortest Hunger Games ever. She’d been ruthless and upfront, killing enemy after enemy with her double ended lance and hiding underwater for hours to strike her opponents when they came to the river to drink. She’s now smiling like the moon, white hair falling into a soft braid on her shoulder.

Lance won two years before Keith, just before Pidge, and he has a hand casually on Shiro’s prosthetic arm. He throws his head back laughing, leans just closer into his interlocutor’s side, and Keith has no idea how his brother can stand the contact. When Lance won, he completely ignored the first fight at the Cornucopia to hide in the woods. For the first twelve hours he worked on building himself a bow and arrows, and Keith can still replay in his brain the scene of how he killed one of the beasts sent to devour him, cut its leg open and pulled out a tendon to use as string for his weapon. After that, it was no longer the Hunger Games, but a horror chase of cat and mouse, a carnage with all the other tributes trying to keep out of shooting range and falling like flies, one after the other in an endless stream of bullseye.

People fear Shiro because he cut his own arm off after getting it stuck under a rock when there were still four people standing, and he still won in close quarters combat with just the same blade he’d used to amputate his own limb. They fear Keith because he hadn’t played games, he’d pulled a knife and dived head first into every fight, lucky that none of his opponents had seemed to set a trap fast enough to get him.

Honestly, the District 4 champions are a much bigger threat, in his mind.

“Lance says they may have some inside sneak peek about the new Arena,“ someone says, and the voice makes Keith jerk, just to find Pidge nursing her little fire to life as a big guy bends over to check on her. “Did you finally get it going?“

“Keith helped,“ she muttered, dismissive, before looking up to the other guy, who looks so much bigger than her even crouched down. “Did you find out anything more?”

The guy shrugs. Keith is not dumb enough to mistake his size for just fat, not after seeing what he’d lifted during his own Hunger Games. Manuia “Hunk” Garrett, Pidge’s male counterpart, had surprised most of his opponents with his strength, and that got them killed and him safe. He won the year after Shiro, and he’s still the only tribute who’d cried for every kill he’d managed. He’d made a little grave for the girl with him that year, when she died. There had been insurrection in his district, after that.

“He doesn’t have much yet, he’ll know more tomorrow,“ he says, sharing a look with Keith that is far too friendly for the situation. “They say the edition has been organized by this man, Coran Smythe, but that he doesn’t let anything slip past his mustache.“

“Oh, I know who that is! The red haired man! He looks so weird,“ Pidge nods, sagely. When she turns to Keith, she looks unperturbed. “Still want that help with he berries?“ Keith nods. “Hunk, teach him!“

“Really? You employed me in the five minutes I was away? Damn, Pidge.“

Still, Hunk points Keith to the holographic pad for plants and animals and starts giving him a rundown about what to keep an eye out for. Every now and then, they both sneak a peek at Pidge, who’s moved to the hand to hand combat mats and is staring at two tributes from District 1.

Every now and then, Keith watches Allura showing Shiro tricks for fishing. Lance keeps hovering and his mouth never stops moving, so he’s probably contributing somehow, or just bothering them. He doesn’t look like he’s doing anything, to be honest.

“How does he get the inside info?“ Keith asks at a certain point.

Hunk looks startled for a moment, but then he shrugs. “He’s a good flirt,“ he says. “He and Allura have admirers in the highest places, you wouldn’t believe.“

Admirers. Well, that wasn’t what he’d expected. “He’s not training.“

“He doesn’t really need to, though?“ Hunk’s fingers tap on a couple pictures on the tab. “Allura takes care of close range, and if he gets his hand on a long-range weapon it’s game over. They don’t need to pick up more skills, they just need to decide who to take for allies first.“

_And kill later._ Neither says it, but they both know. Keith hates it.

Shiro laughs at his own clumsy attempt to fish something and Allura sneaks her arm around his waist. When he bends to pick his stuff and try again, she shares a look with Lance, who nods fast before it can be noticed.

Keith shudders.

 

***

 

When he asks Shiro that night, he shrugs.

“My prosthetic isn’t water-proof, Keith,” he says. “I think they were so insistent in making me fish to check that out. I just hope I managed to trick them into believing I won’t actually get fried if they dump me in water with this arm on.”

Keith almost forgot. Damn. “Pidge and Hunk are cool,” he says instead. “They’re smart. We could use the help.”

Shiro looks at him and Keith knows he’s wondering whether they’ll be an hindrance or not. He looks immediately guilty, but Keith doesn’t blame him.

Only one survivor, after all. And for the two of them, neither is fighting for himself.

 

***

 

Allura and Lance look stunning on stage. Enough that Shiro fiddles with his clothes, self-conscious, and Pidge snorts at the furious expression of the female tribute from District 3. Hunk looks quite at ease, and Keith doesn’t get it until Lance spots them for a moment and waves enthusiastically.

One moment later, he’s into Hunk’s arms, hugging him like some kind of koala. He’s _squealing in delight._ Keith has troubles getting his head around it.

“Looking good, buddy!“ Hunk laughs, just as Allura joins them in a blue transparent vest that is just twin to her companion's. “Feeling confident?“

“You know me, man,“ Lance laughs, finally letting go just to try and tussle Pidge’s hair. “What about Team Punk?“

“I’d say we’re all set for tomorrow,“ Pidge grumbles trying to give her hair a semblance of order again. “Have you met Keith, yet?“

Lance’s eyes zero on him before Keith can even freeze for being put on the spot. The blue of his irises twirls. “I can’t say I’ve tried my hardest to get to know the Mullet-head, no.”

“It’s not a mullet!“

“Guys,“ Shiro’s voice has a quality to it, which is difficult to explain. It just commands attention when it fills the air, and sure enough all the eyes move on him, and then follow his gaze to the screen on the wall.

The marks for each tribute move slow. Pidge and Hunk score a eight and a nine respectively, Lance and Allura are tied with each other with a blinking eleven which makes Keith’s blood run cold - Lance had been a ten, how did he get better?!, and Allura had been a _nine_! -. Keith’s own number is a ten, which is far higher than he’d like it to be, considering he held back to try and be undervalued, to pass under the radar and use it to his advantage.

Shiro is the last called. Keith cusses when a twelve blinks by the side of his head.

He turns but his brother doesn’t look surprised and Keith knows, _bloody bastard!_ , he’s overplayed himself to call the attention, to take the spotlight away. Unsurprisingly, all eyes move to him now.

Allura's smirk is shiny and sharp like a blade under moonlight. “Looks like you’re the man to beat, uh?”

It’s a joke, but it sounds like a threat.

 

***

 

Keith doesn’t even try to go to his room that night. Still dressed, still in his make up from the interview, he follows Shiro to his room and falls on his bed without a word. Shiro just sighs.

They don’t sleep much. Rather, they stand still, face each other and mentally will themselves to be ready to give their lives up for the other.

Shiro sees Keith’s stubborness and shakes his head.

Keith bristles, “I don’t want you to die for me.”

“Not your choice.“

Hell yes it is. Keith just has to time it well.

 

***

 

Being separated from Shiro is the most horrible thing. He finds himself getting dressed and getting his communicator shot in his vein in a frenzy, tapping his foot on the floor, to the point that a guard arches a brow and asks, “Eager to die?”

Yes, if it means saving Shiro.

He gets into his pod silently, willing the nerves to go away, willing his feelings to shrivel and die, making the mission - _save Shiro, save Shiro, save Shiro_ \- his only priority.

When his platform reaches the top, his eyes widens and his heart drops.

_Water_.

Water every-fucking-where, all around him, the metal circle around his feet the only standing ground, separated.

_Ten._ He looks around, and all participants are on their own platforms in a circle. _Nine._ In the middle, there’s something like a big reef with the Cornucopia on top, weapons and backpacks and all kinds of stuff falling from its mouth. _Eight._ Behind them, Keith can see beach all around, so they're probably in the middle of a lake or an enclosed sea. _Seven._ It doesn’t fucking matter, it’s all water!

_Six._ Shiro.

_Five._ Shiro is to his left and Keith sees his face and knows, god, he knows, this is the worst possible situation.

_Four._ Shiro can’t swim, he can’t move, the platform has nowhere to hide.

_Three._ He’s a sitting duck for whoever will want to take a shot.

_Two._ Keith looks at the Cornucopia and tries to spot the weapons, to see if there’s any that could be a threat to Shiro, and of course there are, fuck, it’s full of them.

_One._ Maybe he can get there first?

_Zero._ Keith jumps.

The water is colder than expected and it takes Keith a second to emerge and start swimming toward the middle. He tries to keep an eye on everyone around him to avoid being attacked while distracted, but as soon as he lifts his gaze, his hopes drop again.

Lance and Allura are already at the Cornucopia, while everybody else still struggling in the water. They haven’t approached the pool, yesterday, but they come from the fishing district, it’s no surprise they’re good swimmers. Far faster than expected though.

Keith stops, because this is…this can’t…how is he supposed to get out of this?!

On land, Allura has taken an electric whip. She wraps it against the arm of a tribute trying to get on the reef and the water on his body makes the simple touch fatal. The cannon goes off.

Keith turns, and Shiro is still on the platform, paralyzed, eyes focused on the water all around him, looking lost. _Scared._

Lance has a sniper rifle. He shoots twice, the cannon goes off just as many times.

Someone from District 10 has noticed Shiro and is swimming in his direction. She must have realized Lance and Allura have full ownership of the Cornucopia already, and she’s trying to get an easy kill under her belt before running for the shore.

Keith turns his back on the Cornucopia.

District 10 is closer than him, but Shiro has noticed her and has taken a defensive stance, knees bent just slightly to stabilize his balance. When she first tries to get him, he kicks her square in the face and she falls backward. She looks dazed for a second but Shiro can’t take advantage of the moment, has to keep still and wait for the next assault, which comes shortly after. This time, when he tries to punch her, she grabs onto his flesh arm.

Keith grabs her by the hair and pulls, and she lets go with a scream as they both fall underwater.

There’s no time to check if Shiro has managed to keep to his feet, Keith can only hope so as he struggles with the woman. They’re both weaponless, which means this is all a fight to get a good grip on each other and see who can hold their breath the longest.

She claws at his face, aiming for the eyes, and Keith pulls back just for a moment, just enough to try and escape her nails and maybe get closer to the surface, but she chases. She’s relentless all the way until the water flashes blue and a beam passes her skull from temple to temple.

Precious bubbles of air escape his lips when he tries to scream as the water is painted red and the woman’s body sinks. He realizes his mistake and kicks, flails, wriggles, until his head breaks the surface and he can breath again.

He knew that blast, a long-range laser beam, and he had a pretty good idea of who’d been aiming for them.

“Keith!”

Shiro’s flesh hand grabs his shoulder and pulls and suddenly Keith is holding onto the base of his brother’s platform. When he can finally command his body again, through the heaving breaths, he looks at the Cornucopia.

Allura is fighting off a bulky man just three steps away from Lance, but he doesn’t seem to care. Either he has full trust in his comrade or he’s too busy taking aim at Keith and Shiro to realize. His eyes are hidden by the scope trained on them.

Shiro’s arm clenches around Keith’s shoulders in a desperate last effort of protection, but Keith can feel defeat inside, because if Lance had been able to shot that woman in the head while she was struggling underwater, he surely won’t miss the two of them standing still and helpless.

The rifle adjusts and shoots.

Keith bits his lower lip and closes his eyes.

A man screams.

It’s not Shiro.

Keith opens his eyes, shocked, but when he turns he can spot the dark form of another corpse sinking just behind Shiro’s platform. An attacker he didn’t notice? He looks back to the reef, but Lance has lowered his rifle and grabbed an empty wooden case.

For a moment, Keith wonders why would Lance try to kill them by trowing a box at them instead of just shooting them. Immediately after, he hears his name being called in a familiar voice.

Hunk is swimming toward them with ease, but stretches to catch the case with an arm before continuing to them. He pushes the case against the platform and gestures to Shiro. “Climb in, we need to get to the reef fast.”

What the fuck. Keith feels too confused to understand, but Shiro shakes him for a moment. Then, to his surprise, climbs in, though with a little blush on his cheeks. Hunk wastes no time and starts pushing the case and swimming toward the Cornucopia.

“Wait!” Keith struggles to catch up, still a bit winded, but Hunk ignores him. “They’re gonna kill us!”

Hunk laughs at him, but it’s a dark sound. “Nah,” he says. “Not yet.”

Sure enough, they get closer and Lance and Allura just watch them doing so. It’s only when they finally touch the rock that Keith realizes Pidge is already digging around in the Cornucopia.

“I guess we can make it official now, uh?” Allura smiles as she offers Shiro a hand to climb out of his case. Lance, behind her, keeps an eye on the shore where most of the other survivors are clustering. “Welcome to our allegiance?”

Keith wants to say something, probably a cuss, but the loud bang of a shot stops him.

Lance lowers his rifle as the cannon announces another fallen, and now the figures on the shore have scattered around. “That should buys us some time, but they’ll soon try to plan a way to get to us.”

“We can’t stay here, it’s too risky,” Hunk adds. “We’re frozen targets for both them and the directors of this thing.”

From the Cornucopia comes a sneering scoff. “The Hunger Games Committee can suck my ass.” When she emerges from her search, Pidge has plastic, rope and a lot of metallic crap in her arms. “They fucked me over one time too many, I ain’t gonna censor myself for them.” To the sky, she yells, "Fuck off, creeps!”

“You tell ‘em, Pidgey,” Lance snorts.

Keith’s head is spinning. “Since when are we all a group?!”

Allura’s and Lance’s arched brows in his direction let him guess this might have not been the best approach to the situation. Shiro elbowing his ribs kinda seals the deal.

“If you prefer, I can zap you now,” Allura says, a sweet smile on her lips but the electric whip buzzing in her hands. It’s hard to tell if she’s joking or not.

“Yeah, man, if we’re not allies you could have told me before I saved your asses!” Lance shrugs. “Hunk guaranteed for you two.”

Hunk. Alright.

“Oh, how come? Shiro’s friend-making act didn’t earn him any points?” Pidge’s voice is mocking, but her eyes are on what looks like a broken pad she’s tinkering with. Hunk hovers just behind her and passes things and metal parts when she calls them by unintelligible names. “Poor baby.”

“Eh, would’ve worked better if he’d asked shirtless.” Allura giggles, but it’s hard to say if it is because of Lance’s comment, the accompanying wink or Shiro’s blushing face.

“Gross.” Pidge huffs. Keith can echo the statement. When she stands up, she dumps her in-progress pad in one of the plastic bags, then she seals it closed with the duck-tape. Immediately after, she raises another bag and points it at Shiro. “Let’s wrap your death-trap up and then Hunk and I can see to water-proof it once we’re on safe land.”

“ _Safe land_ might be too high of an ambition even for you, dear.”

Pidge rolls her eyes at Allura’s comment. “ _Safer._ ”

“We can do safer,” Lance says, moving the rifle to his back and taking to tie a rope to the case by one end and then and to his waist by the other. “Until we find out whichever trap this place’s holding, anyway.”

“Aw, man, you really don’t know anything more?” Hunk whines, but helps Allura secure the second rope to her hips.

“I knew there would be water, didn’t I?” Lance scoffs. “Enough to guess this game’s gonna be quite rigged against the Brogane’s here.”

“Lance,” Allura tries to warn him, but her comrade just glares at her.

“What? Pidge’s right. We already got fucked over twice, and most of us won’t survive to see them try for thrice. I’m done playing nice for them. Great good it did to me.”

Keith doesn’t get it, not completely. He shares the feeling, but Lance’s dark demeanor implies something more and he can’t figure out what. It still shuts Allura up, anyway, and shortly after they are moving Shiro back in his case, much to his embarrassment.

“Think like this,” Pidge shrugs as she ties the bag with the pad to her own back. “Everybody who might see you like this in real life will be dead soon enough. Or you will. You win either way.”

Shiro gapes at her, while Lance wolf-whistles. “Woah, hello there, Miss Brightside.”

Pidge flips him off, and dives into the water.

 

***

 

Keith sets up the fire for no other reason than avoiding Allura’s merciless mockery of his pout. Which is stupid, because he doesn’t pout. And even if he did, which he doesn’t, it would be justified by the fact that his brother roped him up in an allegiance with two other people whom he doesn’t trust and who may quite easily kill them all in their sleep. It’d be just his right to pout, but he isn't.

“Awww, is little Keithy still moping?”

“ _Lance_.”

“What?” Lance blinks up weirdly at Allura, somehow making his eyes look even bigger as he tilts his head to the side. “I’m just making friends!”

Pidge doesn’t look up from the tablet she’s still tinkering with. “So that’s why the only one who sticks with you is your kinda-twin-sister, uh?”

“Say that to my face, gremlin!"

“I just did it, you oversized beanpole!”

“Enough.” Keith rolls his eyes, strong of his position knelt by the fire pit where Shiro can’t catch his motion and scold him for that. Leave it to his brother to immediately take over the leadership of their group, he’s always been too much of a sergeant to allow disorder in his ranks.

Allura’s eyebrows twitch. Maybe Shiro’s commanding position isn’t as affirmed as he thinks. Keith mentally notes to keep an eye on that.

Before the situation can snowball any further, though, Hunk steps in between Lance’s angry face, Shiro’s reproaching look and Allura’s annoyed stance. Pidge, unsurprisingly, hasn’t moved an inch. “Man, I’ll always stick with you, you know that.”

Keith suspects Lance might be bipolar, or something equally moody, because the moment Hunk smiles at him his demeanor goes from full on childish rage to soft adoration. It’s different from on the Cornucopia, where a lingering tension and alert permeated even the light banter, because now Lance’s shoulders drop, his hands go theatrically to his chest and the ‘o’ shape of wonder on his lips threatens to break under the strength of an incoming smile.

“Hunk, buddy, I love _one_ man and that’s you.”

“ _Lance_.”

“ _Hunk._ ”

“Oh my God,” Allura groans, voicing Keith’s thoughts perfectly. He wonders how these people can joke and trust and love each others when they all know how this is going to end. Have they already forgotten how this thing works? Is this all a ploy?

His fingers burn and he jerks backward with a curse. Damn, when did the fire take? He can’t allow himself to get this distracted!

“Hey, Keith, you okay?” Hunk looks genuinely concerned, and that’s why Keith ignores Lance, wrapped like a koala in his friend’s arms and smirking, to nod stiffly.

Shiro is eyeing him in that way that says _we’re going to have a chat later_. Keith almost groans. Instead, he stands up, grabs the knife he got for himself earlier and mutters some excuse about finding food. Hunk tries to yell at him that splitting the group isn’t a good idea, but he ignores it. Shortly after, he hears steps behind him and huffs.

One thing that allowed his brother to win his title is that, despite his size, he can be goddamn silent. If he’s not, it’s because he wants to be heard. Not like it’s a bad idea, because Keith feels strung up so much he could slash out at the minimum noise.

He eyes some kind of bird among the branches, maybe he can get it with a good throw? “Lance is going hunting and Allura is fishing.”

“How do you know they’ll share?” It comes out a bit too poisonous, a bit too angry. It’s not Shiro’s fault, Keith knows, and this is a solid strategy, the only with hopes to work probably, but he loathes putting his and his brother’s lives in the hands of a bunch of strangers.

Shiro shrugs, as if the chance of failure isn’t more than an inconvenience in his book. “Otherwise mutually assured destruction is enough of a motivator for everyone right now,” he says, then frowns. “I think you were right, though. Allura and Lance are very upfront fighters. For all four of us, Pidge and Hunk are much a greater threat.” Keith blinks. “Do _you_ know what Pidge is going to do with that pad? She’s been adamant about getting it up on-line but I couldn’t get her to tell what her plan is.”

Keith honestly hadn’t thought much about it. “I didn’t think she’d really get it going again. It’s basically garbage. I thought she just wanted the spare parts.”

“I’ve seen her during training. She went up to all the holo-pads of all the stations, even those she didn’t train with. Have you seen her checking out Haxus and Prorok’s fighting session? Their results came out a good thirty points lower than what they should’ve gotten, I counted. Just after she went and took a look at the screen.”

That’s quite terrifying because the results of the training contributed to the final grade of each tribute. Haxus and Prorok got a simple seven each, which was the lowest anyone from District 1 and 2 ever got. Keith knows Capital City favors the richest districts, the fighters who train for the Arena their whole lives, but they must have lost quite some sponsors for those results. “You think she rigged it and nobody noticed? She’d been there five minutes top!”

“You fought Galra soldiers in your edition too. You think a seven is realistic?"

_Damn._ “You can’t let her touch your arm. What if she pulls something with it?!”

Here’s a thing about Shiro, he’s a goddamn idiot. “We’re stranded on a beach, Keith. Hunk and I checked out the inland, it only goes half a mile or something before reaching the energy field of the Arena borders. I can’t avoid water and hope to survive. She’s the only option.”

Keith turns and kicks a rock. The pain reverberates in his leg but he doesn’t care.

“Keith—“

“ _Don’t._ ”

Shiro, miracolously, shuts up. He just stands there, looking at Keith with his eyes saying _goodbye_ and it’s too soon and it’s too late. Keith balls his fists and hopes his face conveys how little intentions he has to let Shiro die for him, even if Pidge were to hack his arm somehow. “Fuck these games.”

Shiro’s laughter is dry, but it’s something, it’s a sound. It is breathing, so he’s alive.

“Let’s go back,” he says.

They go.

 

***

 

Lance is the most obnoxious thing on Earth and Keith is at times darkly glad he’ll be soon allowed to kill him. Pidge, from her spot beside the fire, wrapped up in a thermic blanket and with her air a puff of static energy as they dry in the heat, has been sending him similar looks ever since Lance ripped the tablet from her hands and dunked her into the path of an incoming wave after the third call to dinner she ignored. She’s sitting in between Allura’s legs, stealing body-heat and being held back from committing the murder she's so clearly planning.

Maybe Keith will let her do it. Her face says it’s going to be slow and painful and Lance just deserves it. Honestly, the only thing saving him is Hunk’s bulk wrapped around him, and Hunk is honestly the only one in the group Keith kinda feels bad for. He’s so genuinely good and soft it’s quite the mystery how he won the Hunger Games and mostly how can he stand his friend.

Now, Hunk’s head is in the crook of Lance’s neck and they both lean against a rock. Lance’s rifle is in his hand, and Keith won’t make the mistake of underestimating the lazy hold. He’s seen the man go from fully relaxed to deadly sniper in less than half a second and hitting a bullseye in some kind of lizard beast they’d met while searching the woods for food. He’s a dumbass, but a deadly one.

Shiro and Keith sit side by side. Leaning into each others would be a blessing, honestly, and Keith could, technically, since the watching turn is Lance’s and Shiro’s, but the uneasiness is too much. Honestly, only Hunk is sleeping, and it took Lance almost an hour of gentle whispers and coaxing and hugs to get him to finally relax. Keith is pretty sure he’d seen a panic attack in the making, before the sniper managed to quell it down.

“Stop glaring, Pidgey,” Lance whispers and then, mature adult as he is, he sticks his tongue out.

Pidge returns in kind, but at least she’s fifteen, she’s excused. “I will destroy you, McClain.”

“Eh, fair enough.”

“You gotta hope you won’t make it, Lance,” Allura chides in, all fake nonchalance. “Your mom is not going to be happy with your behavior.”

Keith watches Lance pale immediately and mutter something in fast Spanish which leaves him wondering just what kind of woman are they talking about.

Lance turns to a camera and mutters, in all seriousness: “Marco, if you’re watching: a good brother would burn the slipper before she gets to use it, just so you know.”

Allura snorts. “Veronica will stop him if he tries.”

“I _know_! That damn sadist!”

“Oh, poor Lancy Lance,” Pidge sing-songs and, honestly, that has to be the most evil look Keith has _ever_ seen. And Keith has been in two editions of the Hunger Games now. “Bet spankings hurt like hell with that flat ass of yours.”

“Listen here, you stunted mould of acid milk, _this ass—_ “ Really, Keith could have lived without the imagine of Lance McClain smacking his own butt, “—made me more money than all your trinkets put together.”

Pidge rolls her eyes and buries herself deeper into Allura’s embrace, which is the only reason why Keith catches the brief flicker on the older woman’s expression. Come and gone, but it was something dark, unamused. She blows a raspberry in Pidge’s hair immediately after, but when the gremlin grumbles and hides her face with the blanket, she outstretches a leg to touch Lance’s. He strokes Hunk’s hair, avoiding her gaze. They cross their ankles and stay like that.

Weird. He turns to Shiro, but stops mid-motion as his hair stand on.

There are dark clouds coming from the inland, too fast and too threatening to be just a casual downpour. “Guys.”

It’s just a word and non-explicant, but they all stand alert and follow his gaze. Lance curses and shakes Hunk up.

If it’s simply rain, they’re going to lose their fire because they decided the sandy beach over the forest and its dangerous animals, but Pidge’s tablet and Shiro’s arm and all their provisions are protected by the plastic bags so it wouldn’t be too bad.

Which is how Keith knows this isn’t going to be normal rain. The committee is sending it to them, so there has to be a morbid, gruesome trick somewhere.

The first drops fall on the leaves, they approach slowly, but they pick up the pace so fast Keith’s brain has barely enough time to realize the color is too dark to be water.

Drops hit Shiro and stain his shirt red.

Then it pours down.

Pidge screams.

 

***

 

Keith runs in a slaughterhouse. There’s blood everywhere, anywhere, it covers everything and it drowns everyone.

Pidge won’t stop screaming, even with her face buried deep in Shiro’s chest as he carries her spasming body. Hunk is moving only because Lance and Allura hold his arms, one each, and pull him along, but their eyes are just as wide and horrified as everyone else.

Keith doesn’t know what face he has on. He just runs, feeling filthy and drenched and sticky and itching to peel his own skin off. He’s not fast because he's breathing through his nose, and only sporadically. He’s gulped so much blood down already as it slipped traitorously in his mouth when he gasped and his stomach is torching with the need to spill it out.

The line where the rain ends is neat and clear, just ahead of them, and Keith knows they’re all aiming for it and that is a bad idea because for all it is gory and terrifying, this is _just blood_. They don’t know what’s outside this section, if there are other tributes or other traps or whatever. They should toughen up and stay here.

They can’t. Keith is going to go insane if he stays here one second longer.

He pushes his legs through burning pain and hazed sight, he ignores the red drops falling from his eyelashes and hair.

He’ll take anything over this.

When they make it out of the line, the heat is so scorching the blood on him already starts drying up. He doesn’t think before throwing himself into the water to let it dissolve away.

He emerges back to see Shiro’s bloodied shape struggling to calm Pidge enough to lower her in. He’s still covered in blood and wide-eyed and terrified, but his mind is probably giving him tunnel vision: take care of her, take care of her, take care of her.

Keith comes closer and holds her arms still as his brother lowers her head backward into the waves and runs his hand through her hair to untangle the knots. She looks at Keith, young and scared and lost, and he has to keep himself from sobbing.

“This was unnecessary,” he says, and he almost breaks into hysterics at his own choice of words. _Unnecessary._ It just didn’t have any other goal than freaking them out, bringing up flashbacks from their pasts, making them hurt. It wouldn’t kill them, it doesn’t seem to have led them into any other trap or closer to any other tribute. It was just a sick entertainment for the people at home, and nothing else.

Somehow, it’s more insulting than the whole demanding-they-kill-each-others-in-a-game thing. What kind of fucked up life is theirs?

Pidge’s screams subside into sobs and Keith pulls her to his chest and pushes Shiro’s shoulder down so he washes himself now. He thinks his brother might have forgotten about it, actually.

Lance and Hunk are hugging, just beside them, but Allura looks their way and her eyes hold the same rage of Keith’s.

This is morbid on too many levels for any of them to comprehend.

She looks at the camera flying above their heads and she flips it off. The cuss that comes out of her lips would make Keith blush in shame any other moment. Now, he just thinks she’s being too polite.

 

***

 

They change hunting pairs. Pidge and Hunk are still too out of it, his hands won’t stop trembling but he keeps fussing over their provisions, checking and rechecking, while she’s almost catatonic and just staring mindlessly ahead and not reacting.

Allura and Shiro will keep watch and stick with them, while Lance and Keith will try and brave the forest to see if they can find something edible or any trap that they might want to fucking avoid before it explodes on them.

It’s a silent walk, mostly. Lance would eye a prey, shoot it down and leave Keith to examine it, cutting the pieces of meat on the spot because nobody wants to proceed to a slaughter in front of Pidge right now.

So Keith is depluming a bird when he first hears it.

His brain catalogues the scream of a girl at the same time as the notion that the girl is not Pidge nor Allura, thus electing to feel wariness rather than outright fear. Probably some other tribute got attacked and if they’re close enough to hear her, it means they’re close enough for her attacker to come after them too.

He’s halfway through “we should go back” when he realizes Lance is already running toward the scream.

“Lance! What the—“

“ _Veronica!_ ” Keith falters, stumbles in his pursue, when the word registers in his brain, overlapping the joking fondness of Allura’s voice from last night.

Except, there’s no way Lance’s sister could be here, right? They wouldn’t bring the families into this, right?!

It’s hard to focus with his breath coming in short rasps, his legs aching from the effort and the hits from all obstacles Keith has no time to catalogue and avoid if he wants to catch up with Lance’s lither form.

Another scream. A man. _Shiro_.

Keith stops, abruptly. He whips his head around, shocked, eyes wide as he looks for his brother. Shiro is not exactly of subtle frame and his scream echoes louder, pained.

_Shiro’s screaming through the TV, a huge mountain of debris crushing his arm, the blade cutting through as he channels all his will and strength in slicing his own skin and muscle and bone._

He’s heard this scream before. He couldn’t forget it, ever, he’s had nightmares about it for months. It’s the only reason as to why he looks up and catches the telltale coloring of a humming mockingjay. _Bloody fucker._

Does this mean—?

He resumes running, struggling to ignore the fake pained yells of Shiro, but Lance has gained quite the advantage on him. “It’s not real!” he tries to yell, but the other doesn’t falter, keeps running and changing course every time the scream changes direction. Now that he knows what to look for, Keith can see all the birds surrounding Lance, leading him around by his nose, yelling at him in his sister’s voice. “She’s not here, Lance! It’s the birds!”

He’s not sure whether this horrifying game of birds and screeches has a deadly end or is just like the blood rain, meant to make them hurt and suffer and go crazy with fear and desperation, but both options are terrifying enough for Keith to jump forward and collide with the back of Lance’s knees.

They fall ruinously, rolling in the dirt and getting scratched by rocks and branches alike. The rifle accidentally shoots once and the birds’ scrams go louder and more frantic as they fly away from the threat.

Lance struggles and Keith climbs his body until he can cover his head with his chest, keeping it pressed against the earth as he mutters about delusions and over and don’t listen. Lance packs quite a punch to his side, straight to the ribs, and he cusses but holds on until every echo of the birds has disappeared completely. Only then, he loosens his grip.

Lance elbows him straight in the nose as soon as he’s free enough to move, and the loud cracking sound from it is the last thing Keith hears before the pain explodes.

“Fucking hell, Lance! Are you out of your goddamn mind?!”

“Who do you think you are?!”

Shit, he’s bleeding hard now, and the bone is definitely bent. “You broke my nose! You fucking broke it! What the fuck, Lance, they were just birds!”

“The mockingjay _repeats_ , Keith! It doesn’t make up sounds on its own! Where the fuck do you think they got the screams?!”

“ _Wherever!_ ” They’re both yelling now, and he’s not surprised when he hears Allura’s panicked voice chasing them and growing closer. “They got Shiro’s from his Hunger Games, they must have gotten your sister’s from your Reaping or some time during your edition!”

“ _Keith!_ ”

It’s a flash of a moment. Keith is all in Lance’s face and then Shiro’s in between them, a long knife raised high and aimed at Lance’s throat. Allura’s whip buzzes to life as she stands just behind him. “Don’t do it, Shiro,” she warns, and Keith knows that a single wrong move will turn their allegiance into a bloodbath. Hunk must have realized too, because his frantic voice spurts out meek pleads for calmness and peace.

Allura’s whip could short-circuit Shiro’s arm and kill him, Lance has his rifle back in his hands, Hunk’s main weapons are his fists. If the fight breaks out, more than one will die.

As if it wasn’t enough, there’s a faint sound of wings fluttering. Great, just great.

“We need to leave,” Keith hisses, grabbing onto Shiro’s arm with the hand that’s not pinching his nose. “The birds are coming back and the last thing we need is a group freak out.”

“You’re bleeding!”

“Yeah, no shit, he broke my nose! Can we leave now, please?!”

Lance’s breath is coming is deep mouthfuls now, and he seems unfazed by the blade to his throat, as if he isn’t even focusing on it. When he blinks, he moves his eyes on Allura. “ _Baja el látigo, ‘Lura. Él tiene razón, tenemos que irnos. Ahora._ ”

Allura frowns, but lowers her weapon slightly. “ _Que paso?_ ”

Even Keith can guess what that means. “Mockin-jays,” he says, struggling through the pain pulsing in his nose. “With our families' and friends' screams as their default humming.”

Allura’s hand drops immediately, the whip falling dead as she takes an instinctive step toward Lance. “ _A quien oíste?_ ”

Lance gulps. “ _Veronica._ ”

“Oh, Lance.”

Keith catches a movement among the branches. “They’re back.”

“Let’s get out of here before they sing again,” Shiro says, and the urgency in his voice is enough to send them all in a fast paced retreat.

Keith doesn’t know what his brother is afraid to hear, but he doesn’t want to find out.

When they get back to the beach, Pidge has her tablet back in her hands. She’s muttering lowly under her breath and her fingers move slowly, only her index touching the tab and punching in key after key, but it’s more than laying flat on her back and crying and screaming. Keith just sits beside her and lets Hunk clean his face.

On the other side of the fire, Allura gathers Lance in her arms and starts muttering to him in Spanish under her breath.

 

***

 

There’s a huge tree on the other side of the water body around the Cornucopia. Pidge won’t stop staring at it, clicking her tongue and hitting her fingertip on her thigh with a rhythmic cadence.

Keith approaches her to get her to come join them around the fire for dinner, and she mutters something under her breath before meekly allowing the manhandling.

“ _Tick tock._ ”

 

***

 

They get ambushed during the night.

Keith hears something crack and wakes up, just to find the barrel of Lance’s rifle above him, using him as sustain for the weapon while scoping the jungle. He whispers, “Do you see them?”

“Only one,” Lance mutters, almost completely motionless. “He’s approaching from the side, but he’s too far away for an assault without long-range weapons.”

“There has to be someone else.”

“Then they’re trying to draw my line of fire one way to get on us from the other.” Lance clicks his tongue. “Can you wake up Shiro without letting them know we’re awake?”

“I can throw a knife,” Keith answers. “They’ll wake up.”

“Eh, I’ll take it,” and he shoots.

There’s a metallic clang as the shot hits something and gets reflected to the woods. Shiro and Allura raise into full awareness, as both Hunk and Pidge scream. Lance curses loudly and pulls back to let Keith free to move. Indeed, when Keith raises, he spots a figure running at them alongside the shore. In a fluid motion with no solution of continuity, he ends up on his feet and lets the blade leave his fingers. This too clangs against something metal, but at least now they’re close enough to see that somewhere, somewhen along the line, these two tributes found some kind of armors.

Two steps closer reveal the purple facial tattoos of the Galra fashion movement from District 1 and 2.

Shit.

Shiro jumps over the trunk he’d been using as backrest and races for the one who’s coming at them by the shore. Allura's whip hits forward, but misses the mark that’s coming from the jungle as this one rolls closer.

Haxus and Prorok, respectively.

Keith hisses, painfully aware of how unarmed he is now, but what pulls him from the fight is Pidge jumping at his feet. He almost yells at her, before realizing she was diving for her tablet. “Does this look like the time for that?!"

She doesn’t listen, not that she’d expect her to. She types furiously, instead. Faster than before the rain. Her eyes run on the screen and her glasses reflect numbers with no meaning to anyone but her.

Keith looks around and Hunk and Allura seem to be holding their own, closing in on Prorok. Covered by Lance’s incessant fire, Keith grabs a rock from the ground and hurries to his brother’s side. Haxus rolls out of Shiro’s blade’s range and slips a gun from his side, but instead of aiming it at the two fighters closing in on him, he pointed it at the back of a little girl.

Allura’s body slams into Pidge’s and the bullet grazes her shoulder-blades before they fall in the sand.

Lance aims two shot at Haxus’ chest, which don’t pierce the armor but put enough pressure to send him sprawling backward. Shiro tries to get him, but the Galra’s grip on his gun hasn’t faltered and he aims it at him and Keith immediately.

He doesn’t get to shoot before a camera plummets from the sky, suddenly off-line, and crushes his skull. Drips of gore hit Keith and make him gag, but he manages to hold it in.

He turns when he hears a scream chocked into silence, and he’s met with the miserable sight of Hunk’s tired eyes as Prorok’s head slips from his hands on the ground, neck bent unnaturally.

The cannon goes off twice.

“The female tribute from District 1 died in the first carnage, but the one from District 2 could still be around,” Lance is saying. Keith thinks for a moment he’s talking to himself, but then realizes he’s actually talking with Allura.

Allura, on her knees, blood seeping from the long wound on her shoulders. Allura, holding Pidge to her chest and whispering sick praises for making pudding of Haxus’ brain. Allura who’d need medical attention but won’t get it because they don’t have any medicine on them.

Now would be a great moment for a sponsor to notice them, considering she’s one of their best front-line fighters.

“We need to move,” she’s saying, apparently unbothered by her wound. “We’ve been here for too long. Every other tribute knows our location now.”

“They already did, the fire pit is visible from the whole coast,” Shiro sighs. “I think we’ll have to stick to the jungle for a while.”

“Those armors weren’t in the Cornucopia,” Hunk adds. “They must have found them somewhere in the inland.”

“Or a sponsor sent them,” Keith corrects.

“Be as it may,—“ Allura says, “—the jungle is a risk worth taking now.”

Keith doesn’t like it, doesn’t like it at all. The beach is visible and open, but with the best sniper on their team it isn’t as scary as an enclosed space swarming with hidden traps and unknown creatures built just to kill them. But to be fair, everything on this land is made to kill, or already has.

Shiro sends him a glance as he helps Pidge stand up. Keith tries to keep a blank face, but he can see the worry in his brother’s eyes and the meaning behind them.

Allura needs Hunk’s help to stand up and, though she walks on her own apparently easily, the cut on her back will slow her down considerably in the close quarters fight that are her specialty. Lance’s hovering may be just an off-battle thing, but it may also be a distraction next time they get attacked.

Keith remembers watching Shiro’s Hunger Games. Remembers Sendak’s bored expression as he slit the throat of a guy from his own allegiance after he broke a leg and became a _hindrance_.

They start walking toward the line of trees, and it is a slow, miserable travel.

 

***

 

Lance is a good climber, unsurprisingly since he’s a sniper. He moves tree to tree to make sure no bird from Hell is waiting for them and shoots the ground in front of them every time Hunk or Pidge get a bad vibe out of some minor detail they spot.

They’re all false positives, which doesn’t help them relax at all.

When they get far enough in that the beach isn’t visible anymore, Hunk directs them to a little open space covered in soft musk. The trees are less thick around them and the spot they choose is slightly raised, so spotting approaching enemies should be easier.

They lay Allura down on her side and Hunk uses his flask to wash the blood away. Shiro tries to offer to take care of dinner and receives a collection of glares for the trouble. They’ve all seen him try to feed himself in his first Games and nobody has any intention to die of accidental food poisoning as the unfortunate tribute who tried to steal his food back then.

Pidge picks her tablet up without looking at anyone. She frowns, mutters her mantra of “ _tick tock, tick tock, tick tock_ ” a few times as she types away and then gasps.

Shiro’s confused “ _Pidge?_ ” is left struggling after her fast pace. Like the gremlin Lance accuses her to be, she chases down their little camp and speeds even deeper into the inland.

“Woah, what happened?!” Keith tries to say, but Shiro only shrugs.

“I’ll go after her. Hunk, come along?” A nod. “We’ll be back soon.”

A voice in Keith’s brain is screaming that this is not, in no universe, a good idea. Splitting the team is going to get them killed. Then another voice reminds him they’re all going to die anyway and his hand punches the ground on its own.

“Woah. You okay, buddy?”

Keith thinks this might be the least antagonizing Lance has been since they met, and it’s awful because it’s hard enough as it is without even him starting to play friends and being all nice when they both know he’s going to try and put a bullet in Keith’s brain soon enough.

Keith’s instincts mostly only consist in half of the fight-or-flight impulse and being stuck in the allegiance only makes it harder for him to get rid of the adrenaline from fighting with Haxus. He starts when Lance calls him again.

Without answering, he just turns his back to their camp and stomps his way through the trees.

He thinks Lance may yell something along the lines of “ _don’t walk in there!_ ” but the tone is that of a challenging mother and Keith has never been good with authority or female parental figures.

He keeps walking.

 

***

 

Keith has had many bad ideas in his life, but abandoning the group to blow some steam slashing with his knife at thin air has to be on the top ten. Or somewhere there with all the bullcrap he pulled as a kid.

Honestly, Shiro being a big ball of stubborn assholery is the only reason Keith hasn’t died by Peacekeepers’ hands when he was an angry brat.

With the sweat running down his neck and thirst burning in his throat, he knows it’s time to go back. They still don’t know what set Pidge off and if Hunk and Shiro are back. Actually, he might hope that Shiro might not be back yet, because he’s pretty sure his brother won’t be happy about his escapade.

Whatever. He has to go back sooner or later.

He reaches the edge of the clearing when he hears Lance’s and Allura’s clipped voices.

Keith’s hearing has always been a bit too exceptional to be just a natural gift. He and Shiro had been the only ones to know and kept a tight secret about it. Everybody knew Capital City liked rare pets.

So he shouldn’t be able to hear Allura’s hissed, “Your family needs you alive, Lance!” But he does. And it freezes him behind the coverage of the trees, hidden from sight.

Lance’s scoff is not amused. It’s harsh and dark. “Only one of us makes it out of here, ‘Lura. And my family knows I’m not leaving here without you.”

Allura’s voice raises for a moment in a cuss, before she catches herself. When she does, she sighs deeply. She bows closer to Lance, but her voice still carries to Keith as she lays her hand on his shoulder. “We can’t both make it and I refuse to hurt you,” she says, voice solemn, but she’s a bit more hesitant when she adds, “I’ve been watching Pidge, lately.”

“She’s a force of nature,” Lance agrees, as if the non-sequitur makes sense to him.

Allura hums, and she bumps her forehead to Lance’s. “I know how much you love Hunk,” she whispers, voice almost low enough for even Keith to struggle to hear. “If you decide to pick him, I’ll understand.”

“I wish I could,” Lance mutters in a strained laughter that holds no joy. “He asked me not to.” Allura pulls back, eyes wide, and Lance shrugs. “He picked Pidge too. Asked me to look out for her as long as I can or whatever. Until someone slits my throat, probably.”

“Damn, Lance.”

“What do you want me to say?” Lance goes to his feet fast enough that Keith jerks. For a moment, he almost forgot himself, living through the conversation he struggled to keep up with. He thinks he’s been spotted, but Lance turns to Allura to look down on her. “I don’t even know the chick, ‘Lura. All I know is she’s a genius who likes peanut butter but not peanuts and sweats a lot. Why the fuck should that matter to me? But you and Hunk are my best friends and I’m not going to shoot your brains out while trying to get to a fifteen-years-old. Whatever. I’m hopping on the _let’s save the kid_ wagon and then the three of us can, I don’t know, eat poisonous berries all merrily together.”

Keith’s breath stops, without his permission. He can feel the brain cells in his skull looking at each others with confused gazes, unable to come up with a single synapsis that would give some kind of sense to this whole discussion.

Ever since the beginning he’d fought with the goal of having Shiro survive, and he’d thought the bond between him and his brother something special and unique. It’s shocking, though it probably shouldn’t be, that someone else might love someone just as much.

Allura chuckles as she passes a hand on her face to clean the tears away. “You’re an asshole,” she says, the way Shiro calls Keith the same term. Fondly.

Lance shrugs, the gesture visible even from afar. “Can’t let you take all the glory, can I?” He fiddles with the rifle in his hands. “I just hope my family will be okay.”

“They’ll understand.”

“And I’m sorry I can’t save you, ‘Lura.” Keith watches him kicking her ankle gently. “Would’ve loved to be the knight in shining armor, for once.”

“You’ll always be my own damsel in distress, Lance, you can’t escape your fate.”

“Fuck you, you only saved my life once! Okay, maybe twice or thrice!”

“And you’re fucking welcome, you fucking asshole.”

Allura hits Lance’s ankle back and he mimes losing his balance and falling dramatically to his death. Which is not something Keith can comprehend joking about, all considered.

Keith is also a terrible liar and he knows his face is telling every secret he’d overheard, which is probably going to result in his death if Lance or Allura see it. He can’t show up there as if nothing happened.

He’s spared from doing that as Shiro, Hunk and Pidge come back to the camp, though he wouldn’t call it a luck since all three of them are screaming at top of their lungs different variations of “ _Run_ ”.

Allura jumps to her feet as Hunk and Shiro grab the bags with what little provisions they have left. Pidge meets Keith’s eyes as he approaches them and throws him a bag of bullets to hold. “What’s going on?!”

“It’s a clock!” Shiro hisses, stomping on the remains of the fire to take it out. “The whole arena is programmed as a clock. Every section has a trap that sets off at a certain hour.”

“The tail of the Cornucopia indicates the twelve,” Pidge adds, typing away on her tablet. “The blood rain was at two, the mockingjays at three. The tall tree gets struck by the lightening at seven.”

“Lemme guess, we’re in the next trap, aren’t we?” Lance asks, with all the conviction of someone who wants to be told he’s wrong.

“The hour’s going to hit soon, we need to get the fuck out of here!” Shiro growls, pushing Pidge in Keith’s direction and meeting his eyes. “We don’t even know what’s going to happen!”

“Uh, guys?” Hunk’s voice is terrified enough for Keith to break eye-contact with his brother and look behind him. “What do you say about thick green fog?”

Keith would say it’s too fast and the leaves bend under its passage too much. He’d also say he doesn’t want to stay here and find out what it does.

“ _Run!_ ” Lance reiterates, grabbing Hunk’s arm and pulling him along.

Allura ends up side by side with Pidge and Keith, Shiro just behind them. Keith doesn’t stop to check if the other two are hot on their tails, he just pushes his legs to his best, and when Pidge stumbles he catches Allura grabbing her by the waist and pulling her along.

He only looks back when he hears a scream, and is morbidly relieved when he realizes it’s not Shiro.

Hunk grunts, but picks Lance up as if he weighted nothing, no matter how much the other screamed and struggled.

“What was that!” Pidge yells, still forced into a run by Allura’s ruthless grip.

“It’s poisonous!” Hunk replies, and when they hurry down a slope, Keith turns again and catches sight of Lance’s back.

Where the clothes don’t cover, the skin is red and yellowish with bubbles filled with pus. It’s disgusting and disturbing and most definitely not just to fuck with their psyches. They’ll need medicine for that, and Keith is pretty sure there was none in the supplies they took.

He’s so busy watching backward he doesn’t notice the river ahead of him. He falls in face first, but manages to hold his breath and the water is quiet enough not to pull him away. He follows worried “ _Keith_ ”s through the darkness to find the surface, and gulps a mouthful of air.

Shiro is there, arm outstretched to pull him out, when Pidge reaches him from behind and pushes him in too.

Keith’s heart stops for a moment, the fear paralyzing, as Shiro’s arm buzzes and cranks. Ultimately, though, it doesn’t taze them both to death.

Pidge grabs Allura and pulls her along as she herself jumps in, then she turns to Hunk. “The fog stops at the edge of the water! Get in!”

Hunk lies an whole lot of faith in someone Keith just thought was trying to get them all killed, because he holds Lance closer to the chest and jumps in with a yell as the fog licks his arms.

Almost at once, they all take a deep breath and submerge, hiding from the fog as it accumulates on the shore of the little river. They watch it swarm there for a moment before dissipating just as fast as it had appeared.

Pidge is the first to risk a breath of air, and her whoops of victory make all of them emerge again.

“ _Cabrón!_ ” Lance spits water and Spanish words, cusses?, which equal frequency as he holds onto his best friend as the day of the interviews.

Hunk is staring at him in awe. “Buddy! You okay?!”

“There’s no trace of injury left,” Allura observes, swimming closer to the other’s back. “The water seems to have healed it completely.”

“Great,” Shiro huffs, and to Keith’s surprise he pats Pidge’s back a couple of times. “Smart thinking.”

“It’s what I do,” she replies, going for smug but clearly still shaken in how her hand darts to hold onto Shiro’s shirt and her eyes refuse to leave Lance and Hunk as they help each other checking for residual injuries.

It’s not Pidge’s fault that three people in their party want her to be the one who lives, but Keith still feels a pickle of annoyance spiking in his chest. “Let’s get out of here,” he huffs.

They all do, but they stick to the side of the river the fog didn’t reach.

 

***

 

There are many things Keith isn’t good at. Lying, dealing with people, pretending something is not bothering him, thinking before acting. There’s a long list that Shiro probably keeps alphabetized, but protecting his brother has never been in it.

So he waits for their hunting trip, letting Lance and Hunk explore in one direction as Pidge and Allura keep hold of their new camp and probably count the seconds to the next trap snapping.

They’re barely far enough not to be heart when Keith grabs onto Shiro’s sleeve and stops him in his track.

“Lance and Allura have a deal. And Lance and Hunk too.” Shiro stiffens, and Keith sees the light change in his eyes as the playfulness withers and steel takes its place to build solid binaries for strategies and plans. “They picked Pidge. Not to kill, to— to keep safe. They want her to win.”

It’s weird to let it past his lips, to free the ugly truth from his brain. Thinking Lance and Allura as deadly threats was easier than seeing them as young adults planning their own execution to protect a kid. It’s not something he can go back from, and it makes the blade in his hand heavier, the blood rustier.

Shiro’s shoulders drop, but the motion is not what Keith had expected. It’s not a gesture of defeat or surprise. His eyes evade Keith’s for a moment and that’s telling enough. “You already knew.”

“I suspected,” Shiro corrects. “Allura left her back open to Prorok to prevent Haxus from getting Pidge. It didn’t make sense and she’s too much of a good fighter to make such a mistake. Lance too, he’s been focusing his shots around her. Hunk was quite obvious since the beginning so, yeah. I guessed it was something like this, I just didn’t know they had talked about it openly; I thought they were each following their own strategy.”

It makes sense, in a dark way that brings up tiny instances to Keith’s mind.

Pidge hugging Shiro’s middle after the blood rain, fixing his arm from the damages of the mud and the hits, talking him out of his flashbacks with soft words or snarky comments. Shiro ruffling her hair, nagging her to eat or to sleep, letting her curl to his chest when the nightmares made her scream at night.

“Did you pick her too?” Keith asks. He’s ashamed of the wet note in his voice, of the hurt he can feel building in his chest. He doesn’t want to be this kind of person, jealous of a kid and possessive of his brother, ready to kill a girl so young just to save his own skin.

Shiro looks haunted. “You’re my _brother,_ ” he says, and it’s not a _yes_ , but it’s not a _no_ either.

Keith nods, because he gets it with his mind even though he doesn’t with his heart, and Shiro hesitates before moving to stand fully in front of his brother and placing his hands on his shoulders. This time, Keith allows himself to lean forward until his forehead touches the firm chest. “I don’t want you to die,” he whispers, and Shiro circles him with his arms and squeezes a bit.

“I’ll do my best to make sure you and her make it to the end,” he says after a while. Keith wants to get mad, wants to yell, wants to point out that Shiro ignored what he’d just said. But if Shiro were to make it to the end with only Pidge, Keith already knows what he’d do.

And if Keith ends with Pidge alone, he doesn’t want to be a person his brother would despise, nor he wants to go back home if it means being alone.

He closes his eyes and mourns his last hope. “I guess we really all have the same goal.”

Shiro doesn’t say anything.

 

***

 

Keith dreams about killing Pidge. He dreams about taking her out before the end comes, when there’s still so many other people in the game that Shiro could kill without feeling too much remorse for. In the dream, Lance and Allura and Hunk scream in anguish and charge at him, and his brother stands, paralyzed, with her limp body in his hands.

Keith doesn’t want Shiro to look at him like that _ever_.

Keith doesn’t want Shiro to die either.

He wakes up crying and Hunk gets him in his lap and cuddles him and promises him that they’re safe even though they’re not.

 

***

 

“I have a plan,” is the sentence Pidge kicks them all awake for.

Shiro grunts and Hunk complains, Lance turns the other way and mutters about how _before sunrise it’s all Allura’s plan_. Allura, who’d kept watch with Keith and had spent two good hours trying to get Pidge to sleep, pulls his blanket off him and hits him on the side with his own rifle.

Ignoring the profusion of cusses, Shiro scratches his neck as he looks at Pidge. “What plan?”

“Actually, the same of last time. Well, my last time, not yours. I’m half convinced none of you actually had any plan in your own editions, but whatever, I’m here now and we can finally do things with some logic.” Keith feels like he should be offended, right now, but to be fair she has kind of a point so he swallows his own annoyance. Pidge, oblivious, just types something on her tablet before turning it for them all to see. There’s a long string of numbers and symbols and what looks like a sticky drawing of… something. “There’s a roll of conductive wire at the Cornucopia which I’m pretty sure nobody took even after we left. We get it, we tie it to the big ass tree and get the fuck away from the shore before the lightening strikes again.”

“Oh, I see!” Hunk bends closer to check the numbers of the equations. “Everybody on the beach or close enough to the wet soil will get zapped with all the volts from the lightening!”

Pidge nods. “By now, everybody has to have learnt that the jungle not-so-randomly spits up some trap. District 1 and 2 were already occupying the beach and now that we, the most dangerous party, left it it’s probable that everybody else has moved closer to the water where the hourly torture don’t arrive.” She clicks something and the screen change to an approximate design of the arena as a big clock. “If we cut through the water, we should get to the other side fast enough not to be seen and two hours before the lightening hits the tree.”

“Not close enough to risk being shocked ourselves, but without giving the others enough time to retreat from the water,” Shiro says. “Sounds like a good plan. What’s the downside?”

Pidge makes a face. “Someone will have to risk dropping the wire in the water.”

Keith frowns. “Can’t we just unroll it as we go?” To send someone back to the water and risk being electrocuted sounds dumb.

It’s quite rapid, Keith probably wouldn’t have caught it if he hadn’t been looking right at Pidge’s face, but her eyes dart to the side, catch Hunk’s face and for a single second they fill up with worry and fear. The next instant, she’s back to looking utterly annoyed with the world.

“Too risky,” she says, as if what she proposed isn’t just as much if not more. “I’ve used this trick once already and everybody in this arena knows it. If they see us _accidentally dropping_ a metallic cable in the water, they’ll hightail the fuck out of the beach. It’s a one shot attempt, we’ll hardly get to try a second time.”

“The element of surprise is definitely a factor to consider,” Allura adds as she meets Lance’s eyes. He gives a curt nod in response to who knows what. “I believe it’s worth the risk. We must just time ourselves wisely.”

“I think we should worry about what to do with the cable _after_ we get the cable,” Shiro points out. To Keith’s astonished glare, he shrugs. “We’re not even sure it’s still in the Cornucopia, or if someone’s on the island now. Let’s worry about one thing at the time. How many tributes are still alive?”

“Including us?” Pidge asks, all snark and sarcasm. Is she pissed because someone questioned her plan? Seriously? Keith thought Lance was the most petty, among them. Shiro gives her a pointed look. “ _Excluding us_ , there are nine tributes left. From their previous datas, I’d say the girls from District 1 and 2 may still be in an allegiance, and the female from District 3 could be with them, but they probably didn’t deign to ally with anyone from District 5 and further. The male from District 10 is probably going rogue on his own, but the last five could be still together, if they fear us enough.”

“It’d be too much luck to get them all in a single shot, but I’d say if we get at least the biggest group we can count it a win,” Allura reasons. “It’d be one hell of a hit to get District 1 and 2 out of the competition, considering they seem to have some good sponsors sending them equipment.”

“Can I side with Shiro here? Let’s see if we have the cable and then talk about killing and stuff? Please?”

Lance made a show of leaning with the elbow on Hunk’s shoulder. “Relax, buddy. Now that even Shiro is water-proof, crossing that fake-ass sea is gonna be a walk in the park.”

Hunk side-glared at him. “I swear, Lance, if you jinx us…”

“Oh, have some faith!” Lance scoffed, placing a hand on his chest and showing the raised palm of the other. “Have I ever disappointed you?”

 

***

 

“Not. A. Word.”

“ _We’re all going to die!_ ”

Keith curses to himself, but differently from Lance and Hunk he is too busy keeping his grip on the rocks under himself to avoid being thrown into the water by the centrifugal force of the reef _suddenly rotating on itself like a fucking whirligig_. He is so going to give Lance a piece of his mind later, though.

Pidge is lodged between Shiro’s bulk and the wall of the Cornucopia, while Allura is holding on the other side of the metal structure. Hunk was the one to fall the closest to the edge, but Lance was fast enough to grab him by the wrist and is now holding on for the both of them, though his arm and legs seem to be fast approaching too much exertion.

As fast as it started spinning, the whole reef stops. Lance and Keith both hesitate a moment before tentatively letting go of their grips. When it seems clear that the thing won’t be moving anytime soon, they hurry in hauling Hunk up and running to the mouth of the Cornucopia like madmen.

Keith just slams into Shiro’s chest and remains there as his brother encloses him in a relieved hug. Somewhere behind them resounds a slap and Lance whines.

“We need to hurry up,” Pidge mutters, digging through the scraps to get the cable they need untangled from the rest of the stuff. “We don’t know when it will spin again and I’m pretty sure falling in the mechanism of this thing means getting mauled to death.”

“Great. Nice visual. Oh man, I’m gonna puke. I’m so gonna puke right now.”

“Hold it, Hunk, we need you here,” Allura says, but she approaches Pidge to help her.

Shiro doesn’t seem interested in letting go. Keith taps him on the back twice, then thrice, then finally pulls an arm back and punches him in the side. “You heard the little genius, we’ve got to hurry.”

Surprisingly, Shiro pulls him close again. When he speaks, it’s a low murmur that not even the others might hear. “I don’t like this, Keith,” he whispers. “They’ve been coming after us since the very beginning.”

Yes, Shiro, Keith noticed. It’s not like he can call a referee to judge the unfairness of the committee; the Hunger Games aren’t exactly a good sport.

“I know,” doesn’t seem to cover for the whole mess of rage and wariness and unwanted resignation that boil in his chest, but he can’t really say much more. He’d like to punch something, but there’s only allies around.

“Lance, watch out!”

Keith jerks at Pidge’s scream, and just as close comes Lance’s pained yell. When he and Shiro turn, the sniper has a hand held thigh to his side and the barrel of his rifle struggling to lock on a blurred reddish figure dancing circles around him at incredible speed.

_District 3, Ezor._ Keith can barely register the thought before Shiro barrels into him and sends him sprawling on the rocks. Shiro himself rolls on his back just in time to parry with his metal arm the strike from a deadly punch to his face. The huge woman standing just above him barely gives him respite before trying for another hit, and the bulging muscles in her arms are something Keith had been wary of even during training. _District 2, Zethrid._

Well, he wanted someone to punch, didn’t he?

Too bad punching Zethrid’s shoulder feels like arm-wrestling a wall. _New plan._ He jumps on her back, arms wrapping around her neck, and then throws his whole weight backward, using it to apply pressure on her throat.

She coughs and pulls herself off Shiro, going to her feet, and suddenly she has one of Keith’s wrists in her hand and he has the distinct feeling she could crush it just like that. Before she can try, Shiro packs a punch with his prosthetic in her stomach and her grips loosens enough that Keith can jump off. He crouches down, then he pulls his knife out and tries to strike her in the back as Shiro keeps trying to boxe with her.

She steps out of his range and his blade swings loose, but she also steps into Hunk’s arm reach and he’s incredibly fast in grabbing her by the waist, pulling her up so her feet don’t touch the ground, and then throwing her against the metal wall of the Cornucopia. Her body leaves an indent in it.

Keith can hear Pidge, Allura and Lance screaming, trying to coordinate, but he has to admit Zethrid is keeping them too busy to even consider providing assistance to the others. 

Hunk is the only one who matches Disctrict 2’s strength. Shiro comes a neat close, but his greatest advantage comes from the metal arm, which he’s still at times hesitant about how to use. Still, they manage to keep her in the corner by alternating their hits, though most of them don’t reach their mark and just serve to impede her from running. If they had a gun, Keith could get her, but Lance is the only one with fire-power. As it he, he will have to get close to hit her with his blade and, with the build he has, he can’t afford to get caught unless he wants to get pulverized.

Lance curses loudly in Spanish, but his voice is followed close by a bellowing yell from Ezor, which startles Zethrid just enough for Hunk to get her to the low side of her ribs. Shiro follows shortly in with a punch to her neck which send her falling on the ground.

Keith pounces.

He strives not to focus on the blood as he digs the blade in and recedes her vertebral column from her skull, cutting in between the bones and through the spinal chord. It’s a fast death and he tries to repeat himself that, his hands still firm around the handle and too frozen to let go or pull out. 

God, he should be used to this. He survived a full edition all alone, so why is he feeling so bad now? Because everybody here had thought the worst was over after their turn came and went?, because the nightmares had just started to come once every two nights rather than daily?

“Keith, are you with me?” Shiro’s voice is too strained to pass as unbothered as he’d probably want, but Keith can place all his attention on the warmth of his brother’s hand on his shoulder instead of the stickiness on his hands. 

He nods, shakily, and like a lightening he remembers that Zethrid was not the only attacker there. When he turns, risking snapping his neck from how fast he does, Pidge has Ezor’s legs wrapped in the cable they’d been collecting and Allura’s whip is wrapped thigh around her throat. Hunk is helping Lance by pressing a hand hard on his still bleeding side, but the curses from the sniper’s mouth seem proof enough that he’s okay, at least.

Allura frees Ezor’s corpse and then, quite unceremoniously, throws it in the waters. Keith forces himself to his feet.

“We need to leave,” Hunk is babbling, fast and worried. “We need to leave _yesterday_. And I don’t even know how long we’ve been here! I mean, yeah, we also need a doctor but I don’t suppose a sponsor would send us _that_ , uh?”

“Buddy, I love you,” Lance says, a breathless chuckle. “But if Allura can do it then so do I. I’mma a _sharpshooter_.”

Keith doesn’t think it’s that easy. From the way Lance leans most of his weight on his best friend, it’s hard to tell if he’ll be able to swim to the shore.

Shiro’s gaze says he’s thinking the same thing, but neither says it out loud. Nor they say how convenient it is that both favorites for this edition got injured in assaults that made actually little sense. Why didn’t Ezor and Zethrid attack together with Haxus and Prorok? Four against six would have had better odds.

It’s weird and it smells foul.

“Let’s hurry up,” Allura orders, though she’s sending longing looks to the case they used to ferry Shiro to the shore and that they left behind.

In the water, Allura is still among the fastest but Shiro’s arm, which Pidge tinkered with most of the nights, is now waterproof and allows him to reach her easily. Pidge herself swims close to Hunk, with some difficulties, so Keith is not that surprised when he ends up bringing the rear with Lance.

He makes faces every time he has to move his right shoulder, straining the wound on his side. When he catches Keith staring, though, he sticks his tongue out, like a goddamn _child_ , and then starts swimming faster.

Keith _does not_ fasten up his pace to catch up to him. They _do not_ pass Hunk and Pidge and almost slam into Allura and Shiro because they’re too busy glaring and trying to one up each others to look at where they are going. Absolutely not.

Allura cuffs them both on the nape as soon as they make it to the shore. She hits Keith square on, but Lance wobbles and falls to his knees and gets only grazed by her hand. 

He manages to give her a smug look as she kneels by his side, immediately. “Aww, I knew you loved me, ‘Lura.”

“Your existence itself is cause of ninety-percent of my troubles,” she replies, never raising her eyes from his wound as she inspects it. “We need to be faster. I’m pretty sure this water wasn’t disinfected.”

Keith wants to ask her what does she hope to accomplish with speed. They don’t have a time limit, and Lance wasn’t planning on making it to the last cannon shot anyway. It would be cruel to say, though, so he doesn’t. He watches Hunk haul Lance on his back and Shiro picking up the roll of cable from Pidge and thinks they would have make a great team. He and Lance would have probably picked on each others constantly and Allura and Shiro would have unavoidably fought for the leadership role, but they would have been a dream team, strong enough to make the world quiver.

Maybe that’s why Capital City pulled this crap on them.

They start marching to the lightening tree and Keith wants to laugh at how crazy the concept sounds even to himself.

 

***

 

Pidge cusses like a sailor when she’s under pressure. She’s already called the thing she’s made out of her tablet and cable and more garbage both a “sexboth fucker” and “virus-ridden porn-bot”. Keith finds it mildly disturbing, Shiro’s soul has ascended an alternate plane, Hunk seems indifferent and Lance and Allura are laughing their asses off. Or well, Allura is; Lance swings between wheezing a laughter and coughing up blood and half a lung.

“Why,” Shiro mutters to his own palm. “I just want to know why.”

“You must have been a horrible person in your past life,” Keith shrugs. There’s no point in trying to tell Shiro not to be a fifty years old father, so he’s long since learnt to just let him do his thing. He still draws the line at the morbid humor about his own death.

“I’m in!” Pidge yells suddenly, calling all the eyes on herself as she enthusiastically fist-bumps the air.

Lance grins at her. “That’s what he said.”

“I swear to God, Lance, I’ll stab you myself if you—“ Keith doesn’t like the way Allura stops speaking in the middle of the sentence.

When he turns, she’s staring at somewhere in the thick forest surrounding them and her whip is buzzing with electricity. Everybody else has fallen quiet too. Lance struggles to take his rifle from his back, but Keith doesn’t get to see him manage.

She falls from the trees, a dark blur that lands heavily on top of Allura, crushing her to the ground. The next moment, the female tribute from District 5, Acxa, turns on a leg to swing the other heavily into Hunk’s jaw.

Pidge cusses and punches a new string of code in. “She’s got a direct link with the HG committee! We need to do it now!"

“Do what?!” Keith tries to yell as he pulls out his knife. Something hits him hard on his back and sends him on the ground, face first.

It’s not Acxa because she’s holding her fight against Hunk and Allura — and winning, by the pained screams of it —, so Keith tries to turn on his stomach and raises his knife on instinct, trying to par whatever weapon his assaulter has.

His heart stops beating for a moment when he realizes it’s a metal arm.

“Shiro!” he calls, but his brother has a serious look on his face, cold eyes to match, and it’s hard to tell whether he’s even hearing anything. “Shiro, what are you doing?!”

Shiro tries to hit him again. Keith parries, but the force of the blow is strong enough his arms get pushed low enough that the energy blade on Shiro’s hand — and where the fuck did _that_ come from?! — cuts a painful line on his cheek.

Something hits Shiro’s temple, a rock, and Keith manages to dislodge him and roll a couple steps out of his reach.

“He’s not himself!” Pidge is screaming, another rock in her hand. Lance, behind her, is tinkering with her cable and his rifle. “The arm’s connected to his brain, he is not in control anymore! They’re ordering him around!”

She doesn’t need to tell Keith who _they_ are. The hatred already in his chest burns sharper and he lets out a battle cry as Shiro attacks him back and he falls into the dance of their fight.

The arm is all Keith can focus on.

Hunk, Allura and Acxa have long since disappeared from his mind. Pidge and Lance faded just as fast. 

It’s so much easier than strategizing, for Keith. This is simple. Shiro is the goal, and his arm is apparently the obstacle to get rid of.

His attack are precise where his brother's seems unhinged, lacking the almost military precision that was Shiro’s trademark. Somewhere in there, Keith knows Shiro is fighting this too. So really, it’s not a one on one at all. It’s two brothers versus a piece of junk.

Keith slips under Shiro’s guard, gets back on his feet facing his shoulders and strikes forward. An arm wraps around the broad chest, the other with the blade cuts on the line between flesh and metal. A screeching sound raises with the smell of blood and an overwhelming scream of pain, but Keith forces himself to push the blade through and though, morbidly glad for the power of energy weapons.

Shiro falls to his knees weeping, and his head touches the ground when he’s already out cold because of pain.

Lance’s rifle shoots, and Pidge’s cable makes a swift sound as it follows the energy beam toward the barrier of the arena. 

Keith steps forward to help him and something white dances in his sight. The air in his throat gets cut off and fire spreads from his neck to the rest of his body. He catches only by the corner of his eyes Allura’s frame following her whip to Keith, her eyes determined as she activates the teaser function.

Somewhere above them roars a thunder, and Keith passes out.

 

***

 

Keith wakes up to white and numbness, which, in his book, is worse than dark and pain.

It’s harder to focus, like this, and his thoughts swim away from him like fishes in a pond before he can try to give them any semblance of meaning or order. His body being too disconnected to properly obey is bad enough to send panic rising in his chest.

He can feel something hard behind his back, so his first attempt at mobility is to roll off whatever it is and figure shit out _later_.

His jerking movement, much more similar to a spasm than any form of voluntarily motion, ends with warm hands pressing hard on his shoulders.

“Relax, buddy. No reason to break out the knives, here.”

The voice is as familiar as the feeling of annoyance it elicits. “L-ance?,” Keith tries to cough out.

Something dark appears in the whiteness and his eyes take far too long to put in focus the fine lines of Lance’s face. Blue eyes look down at him and Keith feels oddly reassured, just because they shine in a way dead people’s never do.

Then Lance smirks. “The one and only. Don’t go fainting again on my account.”

“I didn’t _faint!_ ” Which is a wild affirmation to make when he doesn’t really remember much. He tries to put together the disconnected flashes in his brain, though it would be easier if his head wasn’t starting to conjure up a killer headache.

He remembers Shiro. How could he not? He feels a pang of pain when he remembers the attack, but the memory of Pidge’s explanation comes close enough to calm him down. Then he remembers Acxa’s attack, and he can’t find anywhere in his brain for a result of her assault. He was pretty sure she was getting the best of Hunk and—

“ _Allura zapped me._ ” His body trashes almost on its own, because the memory of her is so intrinsically linked to Lance that the threat seems suddenly so much closer again. Why would she do that?! Did she decide it was the moment to get rid of her party and maximize Pidge’s chances at survival?

Wait a moment.

“Where are we?” The whiteness above them are neon lights and Keith knows there was no such a thing in the arena. Does it mean that the Hunger Games were won? But how could both Lance and Keith be alive? Were the games interrupted for a reason? What kind of calamity could get Capital City to put a stop to their thirst for amusement?

“See, Keith, you might call this a battleship,” Lance begins, spreading his arms in dramatic gestures to enclose the whole room, which is full of medical equipment and vials of any and all colors. “But it is actually so much more!”

Keith thinks this _actually_ is just a spaceship. Whether it’s for battle or not, he has no idea. 

He knows there’s another bed close by and Pidge’s head rests softly on the pillow there. Hunk sits by her side, and waves a gentle gesture in his direction when he catches Keith looking. There’s an x-ray scan beside the bad that shows a spine in a position no bones should ever assume. He hopes it’s not Pidge’s, he really does.

Then he remembers, they shouldn’t be here. None of them. Four participants of the Hunger Games all alive and out of the Arena. What the fuck?

It must be written all over his face, because Lance’s smile grows fonder.

“Welcome to the Castle of Lions, Mullet-head,” he says, solemn. “This is the moving Head Quarters of the Voltron Coalition.”

_Voltron._ He’s heard the name, mainly in hushes stories in the darkest tunnels of the mines. People talking about it with a mixture of awe and longing. Shiro’s eyes flashing and then dying, muttering _I don’t know, Keith, maybe it’s just a legend._

_Voltron._ The District 13 which renamed itself as it started a revolution against Capital City. The land that was annihilated and stopped existing altogether.

Or maybe not.

“Rebels,” he mutters, connecting the dots. “There’re…rebels?”

“And you have the handsomest of them right in front of you.” Lance points in Hunk’s and Pidge’s direction. “Those are the nerdiest. None of us would be alive without them, though, so make sure to thank their brains for existing later, okay?”

Keith would, if he could just put every piece together. Something is missing, and the thought is so insistent in his brain that it’s almost unbearable.

It comes to him as his eyelids fall heavy. He tries to say it, but it comes in a broken murmur, and the world sways before he manages to get an answer.

The last thing he notices, it’s Lance’s expression as Keith’s voice echoes around the edges of the name  _Shiro_. 

It’s crumbling.

 

***

 

Shiro and Allura are not on the battleship. It takes Keith five days in and out of consciousness and one attempt at physically hurt himself to get the truth out of Pidge.

The Castle has some amazing technology. The wounds that should have left her paraplegic are now just a scar on her lower back.

She’s crying as she tells him. They stood behind. Allura cut the localizer out of Keith’s arm, threw Lance to Hunk and then stood to hold the line with Shiro, who was bleeding from his arm and desperate to protect Keith after almost killing him. They never made it to the ship.

Allura is the daughter of the original leader of the Voltron rebellion, long since dead in the final battle against Capital City. Lance had joined the rebellion after winning the Hunger Games had forced him into the role of whore at Mr Zarkon’s orders, collecting intel for him, and he brought Pidge and Hunk along too. 

Shiro was an official of District 13. He joined District 12 as an infiltrate agent when he was just that young, the most brilliant soldier to ever serve the rebellion. He had a lover before leaving, who now leads a squad and for some reason stands in front of Keith with tired eyes and hands crossed behind his back.

“You’re free to say no,” the man, _Adam_ , is saying. “Shiro wouldn’t want you to get roped into this.”

“Shiro is not here to stop me.” And if he were, he couldn’t. Keith has seen the devastation of District 13, Pidge’s scars, Hunk’s dulled emptiness. He’s watched Lance speak in a video of the propaganda, telling stories about how he started to sell himself for secrets at such a young age. He’s not going to turn his back to this. “Why me?”

“You’re upfront, and your bond with Shiro gained more support than Lance and Allura’s supposedly ambiguous relationship. Both of you won and now you’re on the warpath to avenge your brother. The people will love it, and they will follow it.” Coran Smythe, the Master of the Games, was apart of the plan all along. Now, he stands just behind Adam and torches his mustaches and tries to hide how much he’s worried for his pupil, Allura. “ _If_ you choose to join us, of course.”

Keith chose a long time ago.

He says, “I want a sword.”

 

***

 

Five days later, the first video is hackered into Capital City's broadcast. Keith wears black and a sword and revenge.

Voltron raises from the ashes and sings people to the rebellion.

**Author's Note:**

> My idea of this is that Shiro and Allura are saved, Capital City destroyed, Zarkon dies, Adam lives. The End. But, I guess, you can think what you want.
> 
> #ShiroIsGay #HomophobesDieMadAboutIt


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